whooping cough

In mid-February, Dutchess County health officials reported an increase since the beginning of the year in cases of whooping cough. While the numbers of new cases have waned in the past few weeks, health experts say the recurrence of the disease, in general, is puzzling, and urge vaccination.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that this could become the worst year in half a century for whooping cough, or Pertussis. So far in New York State this year, there have been 1,288 cases, that’s three times the number for all of last year. For more on whooping cough, what it is and what can be done about it, WAMC’s Brian Shields spoke with Dr. Thomas Clark, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC, who gave insight into why Pertussis has become such a problem this year.